Energized
Molly Faraday is a teenage girl who possesses the ability of transforming emotions into energy-based powers, all thanks to gained the ability to leech powers based from emotions, thanks to alien technology that has since become embedded within her own biology. She exists, somewhere, within the world of Earth-1776. She is Sol's third Fanon Con Character Creation Contest entry, and since no one else entered, it's safe to say it's probably another win. Dammit, guys. I want to have fun. I didn't even end up putting that much energy (HA-HA) or effort into this one. You could've beaten me. If you're looking for Sol's other Fanon Con entries, see Lady Lethe or Traveler Blue. The theme for this year was "Energized" and boy howdy does that barely correlate here. Basically, my thought process was that Molly gets energized and psyched up by emotions. Background Molly Faraday was born in 1983, in a small American town somewhere in the Rust Belt. She had an older sister born in 1981. Her father wasn't around much, which her mother soon realized was because he was spending his time with another woman. Molly's mother split up with him, and took everything she still had - namely her children - in her car and drove off for the west. Molly's mother soon met and remarried another man in the mid-late 1990's. Her step-father was rude to her and her sister from the get-go, but Molly's mother ignored these signs, because she needed the money he provided in order to raise her daughters well. Following the honeymoon period of marriage, this abuse only got worse. Molly and her sister soon found refuge in heading out to the woods behind her home. Despite their parents' abuse, Molly stayed hopeful. Emoto's Backstory Thousands of years ago, the Itrophans created Emotional Indexer Drones in an attempt to understand the wider range of emotions that other species experienced. These Drones were sent to scour the universe, though their mission lasted longer than the Itrophans did. An EID eventually made it to Earth in the 1980's and arrived at the west coast by the mid-late 1990's. Crossroads of Destiny One day, while out in the woods behind her home without her sister, Molly was approached by the EID. Molly, as curious as any other human would be when encountering an EID, tried to interact with the Drone. The Drone was almost immediately enamored with Molly, namely for her ability to wield what other EIDs had catalogued as a positive emotion (hopefulness) as if to spite her negative emotions (her father's abuse). Molly named the drone Emoto. She tried to keep the drone in the forest, though it kept following her home. After hours spent outside, she finally introduced her older sister to Emoto. The two of them took shifts keeping Emoto in the woods at bay and away from their destructive father. Of course, as summer wound down, the two girls had to attend school. After a few days of skipping meant to keep the robot at bay, their step-father headed out to find them. Emoto sensed the girls' distress and activated instant kill mode. Molly's older sister was horrified by what Emoto had done, and Molly soon knew that she had to go on the run with the robot. The two had grown especially attached to one another and Molly couldn't just let it end up as government property. So, Molly took the evidence - not as dark as it sounds, just Emoto - and left her home. When the military learned what events had transpired, they quickly set out to capture Emoto for themselves. Molly and Emoto managed to run for weeks. When Molly's emotions became too much for her to handle, Emoto was somehow capable of returning the hopefulness, cheerfulness, and happiness that she had projected so many months ago back to Molly. Molly's connection to the robot grew deeper. Emoto's Legacy All good things must come to an end. Emoto's desire to catalogue emotions was his nature, and he didn't understand the concept of running from the police/military. Emoto and Molly were soon brought into open conflict with the government. Emoto took a missile to the face. Unexpectedly, Emoto's circuits began to reform and integrated with Molly's body. This was a first - no other EID had ever done something of this sort. Now that Molly had the technology power combined with a human's decision-making capabilities, she was quickly able to throw off the military. Molly continued to adventure around the world, dodging the military as she did so. Her new goal was to help save children in abused situations like she was. It is unknown if she ever returned home, though given the circumstances she probably never did. She now mainly resides in legends and the tales of travelers, much like Traveler Blue. Personality Molly is a surprisingly cheerful, optimistic, and hopeful person, in contrast with her dark background. She is always willing to help a hand in need. Despite these things, Molly lacks confidence in herself. While she believes things will ultimately go right, she often doubts herself. She constantly frets over the mistakes she makes and fears that one day a mistake she overlooked in her past could come back to haunt her. To cope with these fears, she often acts like a perfectionist and remains distant from those she does not trust. Appearance Molly is about 5'3. She has wavy dark brown hair, usually kept down to her shoulders or up in a messy bun. Her eyes are green. Her nose could be described as slightly upturned. Due to her adventuring, her skin is often flawed and covered in bruises. She maintains a somewhat athletic physique, though she is certainly not a bodybuilder by any means. Her hair is similarly messy and often unconditioned/shampooed, though she does make an effort to keep it washed. Her clothes are often torn, and she tends to wear longer/much more protective clothes, and dresses in layers. Following her integration with Emoto's hardware, she now wears a large transparent pack on her back. Connected to the pack are two pipe-like tubes that are latched onto two metal gloves. On the palm of these gloves are two metal rings that can open or close when Molly chooses and they ultimately serve to activate her powers (more on that later). Molly can remove the pack and gloves at will. If she couldn't, changing her clothes would be difficult. Abilities Molly's powers are all sourced from her integration with Itrophan technology. Molly has two metal gauntlets on her arms. These gauntlets are connected to pipe-like tubes that plug into a massive glass tank-pack worn on her back. When Molly clenches her fists and then splays her hands, the machine will begin to read the emotions of her or those around her. How does this technology work? Hormone conversion, of course! It's pride month! The technology is able to detect the emotions Molly or others are around her are experiencing, and synthesizes reactive hormones that substantially increase those hormones. Those reactive hormones are them pumped into Molly's body to temporarily give her a power boost. Calm Energy Calm energy is sourced from peace, quiet, and tranquility. It is cyan in color. When Molly enshrouds herself in calm energy, she gains the ability to levitate as well as control over the four elements. However, because Molly has a short fuse Caring Energy Caring energy is sourced from sympathy and pride/encouragement for others. Caring energy is green in color. While under the effects of caring energy, Molly gains the ability to empower herself and others with flight, durability, and strength. Compassionate Energy Compassionate energy is sourced from pity or grief on the behalf of others. It differs from caring energy in that compassionate energy is sourced from "negative" emotions relating to others, while caring energy is much more positive. Compassionate energy is indigo in color. When Molly wields compassionate energy, she gains the ability to heal her others as well as to project force fields and similarly-natured energy barriers. Cross Energy Cross energy is sourced from betrayal or a thirst for vengeance/retribution. It is red in color. When using cross energy, Molly experiences incredible strength and will. Her pain threshold is also raised much higher, which is both a blessing and a curse. Cocky Energy Cocky energy is gathered from pride, confidence or cockiness (just as it says on the tin). It is golden in color. While wielding cocky energy, Molly experiences powers that one might liken to a silly anime protagonist. Most chiefly are the abilities to produce weaponized energy (beams), fly (coupled with super speed while in air), and super strength. Crab Energy Crab energy is sourced from stressful or sour emotions. It is orange-pink in color. While under the effects of crab energy, Molly's skin grows thicker and denser (almost plate-like) and tints itself red. Her overall durability increases and her sensory input goes through the roof. It is unknown if she can fully convert her physiology into that of a crab's; the only thing that's certain is that it would be fun for watch. Cruel Energy Cruel energy is sourced from apathy or a desire to watch other's suffer (without them hurting one first, which would instead be cross energy). It is a deep violet. While under the effects of cruel energy, Molly becomes noticeably stronger and faster, to the point where she can even gain teleportation. She is also coated in a poisonous fluid that seems to be a neurotoxin, as it can disable those who are exposed to it for a prolonged period of time. However, she also loses the ability to talk. Chaotic Energy Chaotic energy is gathered through feelings of extreme mania, rage, or confusion. It is white in color. When Molly wields chaotic energy, she gains the abilities of flight and telekinesis. Cursed Energy Cursed energy is generated when one's expectations are subverted. It can be likened to a surprise or irony, or an extreme degree of confoundedness (which is not an actual word). Chaotic energy is black in color. While under the effects of cursed energy, Molly gains the ability to warp reality in a few limited ways. She can manipulate the distance between two objects, the existence of an object, the velocity of objects, the four elements, and gravity. Due to how rare the emotions are to gather, Molly has not had much time to experiment using Cursed Energy. Weaknesses Molly is dependent on emotions and the environment to harness her powers. She is thus very weak to enemies with skill in psychology or who can manipulate her emotions/the emotions of those around her. In addition, Molly's powers are dependent upon her technology. If she cannot use her abilities or technology, then she is as weak as any other human. Trivia *The name Emoto is shared by a Japanese pseudoscientist who thinks that human consciousness can have an effect on the shape of water. Sounds like he must have hit his head reading too many BTFF alien ideas, huh? *Yes, her and Emoto's characters were heavily inspired by Big Hero 6 (though I haven't seen it yet!), Aikku Jokinen, and the Iron Giant. *She was largely inspired by 2018/2019 Internet meme culture, specifically memes like "chaotic energy", "cursed energy", or, of course "BD energy". If you don't know what that is, go ask your father. Or your mother. Or me. I have some pretty B D energy. *Watch out. Eventually all of my disposable Fanon Con characters are going to band together in some sort of Avengers teamup series that'll be fun to plan but end up never going anywhere like all of my other series (that are totally not cancelled by the way). *Molly's name means nothing, it just sounds totally cool. Molly is an underrated name and needs a comeback.. *I basically stole Molly's upbringing from Radio Flyer, but that's okay because no one gives a damn about that movie besides my English teacher. *If any of you steal the idea of her emotion-based powers for an alien I swear to god I will beat you up (I mean it's not original but I was planning on doing it myself) *I put more effort into the trivia section here than anything else. I really just pumped this one out with minimal effort because no one else wants to do Character Creation Contest with me :-(